Construction workers build ramps for physically challenged residents
Most visions of angels don’t include hard hats, but in the eyes of a Valley not-for-profit, that’s exactly what appeared recently when a team of local construction workers built ramps to ease access to their members’ homes and other buildings.
“It’s so nice when the non-profit community can work with corporations on efforts like this,” said Pam Baldwin, area director of Joni & Friends of Greater Phoenix, the organization whose members benefited recently from the generosity of McCarthy. The Scottsdale-based organization helps churches develop disability ministries through training programs, and provides both faith-based and secular organizations with church information and referrals for the disability community.
Partners from McCarthy constructed and installed a variety of wheelchair-accessible ramps at Scottsdale Christian Church, at a residence in the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix and at a residence in East Mesa. The work was a natural for the McCarthy team, which has done similar work for neighbors of other local McCarthy projects.
“We typically find that there’s a need for something like this near all of our projects, so it felt right to align with an organization that could help match our ability to the need in the community,” said Craig Olson of McCarthy, who oversaw the ramp-building effort on behalf of the company. Olson credited a team of workers from McCarthy and a donation of lumber from Arizona-based supplier Alliance Lumber for taking part in the three-day effort.
McCarthy was put in touch with Joni & Friends through a program called Community Exchange, run by Magellan Health Services of Arizona. The program serves as a “matching service,” linking people in need to individuals and companies that can help, and vice versa.
McCarthy has performed work like this, unsolicited, for residents near its Lake Pleasant Water Treatment Plant, Bridgeview at Hayden Ferry Condominiums, and Banner Gateway Hospital projects. In one instance the ramp-building effort generated an unexpected thank you from an elderly recipient.
“To a Good Samaritan – I don’t know how to thank you people for having Jeff and his boys put up this big ramp for me this past week. Thank you very, very much!” wrote Mesa resident Carrie Jonker. Her letter explained that she had a broken hip, didn’t know how long it was going to take to heal and “P.S. – I’m 87 years old!”
“We’re thrilled to be the recipient of McCarthy’s generosity,” Baldwin said.
About McCarthy Heart Hats
The McCarthy “Heart Hats” community involvement program is dedicated to encouraging, supporting and recognizing McCarthy employees’ volunteer efforts in a variety of causes to ensure real needs are being met in communities where employees work, live and play. McCarthy employees are as passionate about building better communities as they are about construction.
Founded in 1864, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the oldest and largest commercial construction companies in the nation. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.
